A Bird's Betrayal
by mangafreakfoeva
Summary: Hibird is Hibari's beloved pet bird. Everyone knows that. But what if there's something else about Hibird that nobody ever noticed...? Detailed summary inside, so you're gonna have to read the story please ? My first story! Might be rated up- violence and excessive cursing- on later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Hibari loves Hibird. He teaches it how to speak, follow orders, and is pretty much the only thing that Hibari doesn't get irritated with. But what if Hibird is actually hiding a sinister secret that may threaten the power of the Vongola, Shimon, and the rest of its' allied Famiglias?

(Ano… please forgive me if the story is bad, this is my first attempt at one… but please read! I did my best at it.)

**Disclaimer: **I do NOT own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Or anything related to it. Though I wish I did. But whatever. Read the story.

Hibari rested against the hard, tiled roof of the Namimori Middle School building, his black uniform acting as a mat to support his back. The pin the infamous disciplinary leader wore was pinned loosely to his uniform and barely latched on, one end fluttering in the billowing wind.

Normally Hibari liked the whole band actually wrapped around his arm; if not tight, at least tight enough to stay on. And of course, being the single, solitary Cloud Guardian of the Vongola Famiglia, who preferred to stray from the paths of the rest of the Guardians, didn't necessarily prefer any of the very few things he genuinely appreciated to be taken away from him.

Which had happened about thirty minutes earlier, courtesy of Gokudera, the ever-so-raging Storm Guardian and his new ability to fling out more dynamite with the new Cambio Forma XX Version. Thankfully, Gokudera, after one of his dynamites exploded near Hibari's sleeve and nearly butchered off the disciplinary committee band, had bonked his bloated head against a tree trunk after tripping over a root and then further bonked it ten times more on the soil as an apparent apology to Tsuna, who had looked on warily.

This had fortunately taken place in Namimori Forest. And even more fortunate, Hibari was in one of his rare good moods and decided to leave Gokudera's self-inflicted, Vongola-style concussion (as Reborn noted) as it was.

At the moment, the great Hibari-san was at his moment of peace. The winds bustled hurriedly against him which would have made shiver, but they were balanced out by the sun's welcoming rays. And he definitely did not mean any compliments about that extreme Sun Guardian, Ryohei Sasagawa. To Hibari, that guy was a total idiot and a sore loser whose vocabulary was reduced to the word 'extreme'. At least Hibari was a bit better- one word, 'herbivore', and one phrase, 'I'll bite you to death', seemed more than enough to get any unaware person scurrying for their dear lives. That Sasagawa moron had nothing better to do than say his special word and feel good about himself. At least he had a decent younger sister. Coco, or something. Hibari didn't bother himself with names. 'Herbivore' suited everyone just about right. Though lately several people were rising as exceptions to this, which Hibari really didn't like.

"Hibari!" squeaked a high-pitched little voice, so fast it almost sounded like gibberish.

Hibari grunted and shifted over to one side, bangs falling over his pale skin, shadowing him from the rest of the world. Just like the Cloud he was.

"Hibari!" the little voice squeaked again. "_Kamikorosu_! _Kamikorosu_!"

The corners of Hibari's lips perked up slightly beneath the shadow of the veil his bangs made. How could he ever forget his beloved pet bird, whom he had taught endlessly to speak like he did?

Few people at Namimori Middle were able to grasp the fact that the herbivore-killing vampire (if that's even possible) actually took a liking to small children and animals. Hibari never thought of small children as herbivores. In fact, he was quite affectionate to them. He had accepted a box of Valentine's Day chocolates from I-Pin and even _smiled _at her. That would have made breaking news worldwide. He was also tolerant of Lambo and his antics.

And he dearly cared about small animals, because he knew that they always had tricks up their sleeves to defend themselves against much larger predators. Hibari didn't just care a lot for them. He respected their abilities.

So when he came across his soon-to-be pet bird after the fight between Tsuna and that misty pineapple-headed, pedo-pervert, he immediately took a liking to it after realizing it wasn't able to take care of itself.

Hibird was one of the only things he cared about.

And then Hibird had become his trademark. After months of being together with its' owner, people realized that it didn't just have to be his classic catchphrase echoing down the hall for them to know that Hibari-sama was on his way to kick some butt- a tiny, fluffy yellow bird with downy feathers, small black eyes, and cute orange feet with a beak fluttering cheerily and chanting 'Hibari' was the cue for them to step aside.

Hibari sat up so Hibird could perch on his shoulder easily. It fluffed up its' feathers and nuzzled closer against Hibari's cheek. Hibari smiled and sighed, reaching his hand up to pet the little bird.

"Get up," commanded an annoyed female voice from out of the blue. "Lazy bum."

Startled, Hibird squawked and fluttered a bit into the air and chimed Hibari's name twice before landing again.

Hibari's eyes narrowed. He grit his teeth. _The busty Shimon herbivore, _Hibari internally growled. But instead of whipping out his tonfas and lashing out at the girl behind him, he kept his already broiling anger inside of him, got up, and turned around to face the leader of the liquidation committee- Adelheid Suzuki, Shimon Glacier Guardian and Hibari's Cloud Flame counterpart.

Why was he acting calmly all of a sudden?

Recently, she had learned the art of slapping people. She was so skilled at this that just the day before, she had yanked the tonfas out of Hibari's tough grip and slapped him. Hard. Add to that, she had grown her nails- not only to make her new black nail polish fetish look nice- but to come to aid when slapping people.

Hibari had gotten so many cuts on his face the past few days, he could even beat Enma's record Band-Aid count. _And_ he had learned to control his temper by a fraction.

List of people to get revenge on: 1) The misty, perverted, crappy illusionist. 2) The big-chested slapping freak. 3) The dynamite-blasting, non-thinking, fanatic albino midget.

Hibari glared at Adelheid through his icy gray eyes, right into her eyes. She stared back defiantly.

The epic staring contest between the two strongest Guardians of the two strongest Famiglias (other than Julie Katou and Rokudo Mukuro) ended when Adelheid got fed up and began to talk. "I have to work on beating up that baseball-loving maniac for slicing the fence. Apparently he accidentally used his katana instead of his bat."

"…Hn."

"And the fight you had with the silver-haired geek the other day. Some of the bombs damaged property in the forest. You have to check it out."

"Hn."

"There's a catch, Kyoya. It's not as simple as it sounds." Adelheid's slightly maroon-tinged eyes glinted sharply in the blurred sun. Hibari raised an eyebrow. He knew that she knew the disciplinary committee leader was incredibly strong and capable- what, in the forest he knew like the back of his hand, would prove as a danger to the formidable skylark?

"…"

"Kyoya, I've heard rumors that several people have been killed in the deep parts of the forest the past few weeks, and that's where the property is- it's marked by a small fence. Some of Dino's subordinates were murdered also."

Hibari couldn't suppress a smirk. "Checking property is a difficult job for me?" he chuckled. "A woman such as you is believing mere rumors?"

"I'm being serious, Hibari," Adelheid snapped at him. "You want to know something else?"

"…"

"A bird that looked exactly like yours was hovering beside each dead body found so far in the forest."

Now this caught Hibari off guard. He took a glimpse of the bird next to him- it didn't show any sign of understanding the conversation. It looked so agonizingly innocent that Hibari was practically against believing the rumors. Even though… _they might be true. _Hibird had not been next to him the past couple of days, even when he wanted the bird to be there. Just when Hibari was about to start one of its' lessons, the bird chanted his name twice and fluttered away from the school and into the forest's depths, despite its' owners protests.

But how could a bird as tiny as this be able to accomplish such a feat? How could it murder people? How could it betray the owner who had taken care of it for at least a year?

Hibari glowered at the young woman in front of him. "…You lie," was all he said.

Adelheid stared back, her short black hair whipping to the side in the wind. "It's not me who may be lying," she countered, talking slowly to give the impact. "It's the rumors. If you discover it is true, or it isn't, the things to be blamed are the bird and the rumors. I have nothing to do with it."

With that, she took a step back, turned, and walked away to the stair entrance. Before descending, she glanced back and said two words.

_Be careful._

C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:C:

Hibari-kun, _the youth thought, looking quietly down at the bulky man sprawled broken and battered on the bloody soil, no expression on his face._

_ And then the youth's mouth stretched. Wider and wider until all his gleaming white teeth were visible and glinted in the sun barely visible through the dark trees. His grin had become almost Cheshire-like. Like that weird Storm Guardian of the Varia, who thought he was a prince._

_ "Hibari-kun," the youth whispered aloud this time, and cackled cruelly into the dense atmosphere of the forest floor before leaving the dead body to rot away into the ground. _

**So… That's it for now! **I hope it wasn't too horrible… again, this is my first story ever. I promise, if I get good-enough reviews- some criticism accepted (note the word _some_)- then I'll continue this story and try to make the chapters longer. Be aware that it'll probably take a long time to update each chapter. 


	2. Chapter 2 Murderer Revealed

**Summary: **Hibari loves Hibird. He teaches it how to speak, follow orders, and is pretty much the only thing that Hibari doesn't get irritated with. But what if Hibird is actually hiding a sinister secret that may threaten the power of the Vongola, Shimon, and the rest of its' allied Famiglias?

**All right, it's chapter 2! **Yay… okay, thanks to those two people who favorited and followed my story, and the only person who reviewed it. Though I really need more reviewers! My stories aren't that bad… I hope!

**Disclaimer: **As always, I do NOT own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Or anything related to it.

Hibari whacked his way through the dense forest. Normally he didn't venture this deep into the Namimori Forest. I mean, why would he? Hibari knew of no person in this small town who got a rush of thrill from exploring the depths of such a large forest. So he never bothered to go there.

Maybe he should have. He would have recited his classic catchphrase to the trees looming high and dangerously above him for crowding, but after all, trees were trees. And Hibari was smart enough to know that trees didn't talk.

Or so he thought.

Hibari had left the school promptly after the last bell rang, leaving the jobs of patrolling in Adelheid's hands. Hibari would never openly admit this to her, but he trusted her in managing the school when he wasn't around. For all the rest of the students in Namimori Middle knew, Adelheid was equal in strength and scariness to Hibari. With her raptor-like vision, nobody would ever be able to escape her punishments. She roamed the school halls every hour, sharp- not a second late or a second early, and unlike Hibari, she didn't have one single thing that she used to punish her victims of the day- she always had another unusual method of teaching a lesson right up her sleeve. But she made sure of one thing in each one of her ways of torture- that the victim gets badly hurt. However, she gave a little bit of leeway whenever it was Tsuna and Enma she had to deal with. They acted like losers- the loser duo, no _duh_- but they were still the most powerful bosses, and she had to respect that. And she did give them pity for the awful tormenting they received Tsuna's home tutor, specially delivered from the murkiest parts of hell.

So Hibari had faith in Adelheid to do his job of patrolling during the afterschool hours as he left in the direction of the forest, leaving her with a slight nod of acknowledgement. She had tipped her head respectfully in response. But she didn't just leave like she always did when the disciplinary committee leader left the patrolling to her. She watched the Vongola's Cloud Guardian's black school uniform billowing up in the howling of the wind, fluttering like the wings of his bird. The trees' leaves rustled and swayed to the side with the wind's power, shining blindingly as the sun's rays beat down and hit pinpoints on the leaves, giving the appearance of glowing green stars.

That was the first day Adelheid had ever been a second late for her patrolling rounds.

C:/C:/C:/C:/C;/C:/C:

Let's get back to talking trees. If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, scroll up and read the second paragraph of this story. Then you'll understand.

Perhaps I got a tad bit off topic talking about Adelheid, eh? She'll be an important factor later on in the story. But don't get me wrong. This chapter is far from over.

Hibari, for the first time in two-or-so years, had gone deep into the forest. Now, he knew that the word _Namimori _meant average. But the forest was certainly contradictory to the name. It was huge. In fact, it surrounded the whole town. Geography would say that the town was relatively small. However, if you were living there, the forest was pretty darn large. One could even say… _unfathomable_.

And let's just say Hibari was quite restless. He recognized the location in which he was in now- he was in the exact center of the forest. He knew, because it was darker than any other part of it. It was nearly pitch black- so excruciatingly dark that even the barest pinpoint of light would be blocked by the towering trees. The trees were tall- maybe seventy feet minimum, a hundred feet maximum. And they didn't have leaves. They were all bare, even though the season was in the peak of springtime. The trees were twisted and gnarled and rotten and black, crowding over an incredibly narrow dirt path complete with large mushrooms atop decaying logs, and decomposing dead insects and plants. In fact, the trees were so close that its' branches connected way over the top like a marbled black roof, blocking out any hint of sun. And, they bordered the sides of the dirt path that Hibari walked on. Like I said before, the dirt path was incredibly narrow. So imagine- walking through a rotten path made up of dead organisms with withering, disintegrating trees reeking of a foul scent just centimeters away from your head just to check some stupid property because a certain big-chested woman with a slapping fetish told you to do so.

And whenever wind bustled through it, it sounded like the desperate moans and howls of ghosts. It made the tree branches creak and rattle like skeletons. Which made the forest sound like it was talking.

And the creepiest thing about it- _everything was dead. _

However, Hibari was unperturbed. He calmly walked along the path, making sure to carefully step over the logs and boulders in his way by feeling around with his feet. Everything was dead anyway. Why should a person be scared of dead things? They can't do anything to you.

Though he did make sure to keep his neatly polished, steel tonfas at the ready to whip out at anything, anyone he considered suspicious. The only things that put him off at the moment were the crowding trees and the rumors- the rumors that the bird which looked like his was a suspect for the recent murders. Hibird was beside him anyway, perched on his right shoulder. So it couldn't do-

Hibari stopped dead in his tracks, usually narrowed eyes now wide.

_Hibird! _He thought frantically.

He glanced at his right shoulder. Then his left. He lifted his right arm and felt his head. _Tch… he's gone… however I cannot believe the rumors just yet…_

Out of instinct, Hibari's ears perked up when he heard a rustling sound in front of him.

Hibari lashed out his tonfas, glaring into the inky blackness.

A twig snapped. The thing had come closer.

A small bead of sweat formed at the tip of his brow and began its' journey downward.

He wasn't afraid.

Another rustle.

No, he wasn't afraid.

A crunch of leaves just half a foot in front of him.

Why would he be afraid?

Hibari was at his limit. Three beads of sweat had already rolled down his cheek. "Show yourself," he growled menacingly.

"Kufufufu," an all-too-familiar voice reverberated eerily through the forest. "Has the great Cloud Guardian finally become afraid?"

The darkness in front of Hibari cleared, at first showing a mere silhouette of a person, but then that cleared as well, showing the smirking figure of the illusionist whom Hibari hated. Hibari clicked his teeth, then grit them together before lowering his defense stance and standing normally. But he kept a firm grip on his trusty weapons.

Mukuro set his trident down and looked the Cloud Guardian up and down, at the same time stroking the length of his trident. "It is quite rare to see you around here."

"…"

"I was expecting you to arrive at Kokuyo Land for those usual pathetic fights which always end in a draw and you never end up getting your revenge-"

"You pedo-"

"-but you didn't, which was quite unusual, so I came here because this is my… thinking spot," he finished mysteriously, plucking his trident from the ground and blowing at the trident's glistening point.

Mukuro gazed at Hibari peculiarly with his mismatched eyes that always looked like they were focusing somewhere else but in fact looking at you. "However, I assure you I have not been committing the murders recently."

Hibari glared daggers at him. "Checking property," he answered bluntly. "I have no intention of believing a dyed pineapple like you to have not been committing those crimes." To pump the impact, he reached behind into his back pocket, retrieving a pair of silver handcuffs to match the tonfas- the weapon used by his first-generation ancestor, Alaude.

When he thought about it now, Hibari realized that he had never gotten the chance to fight Alaude. For some reason, he felt the urge to. Would Hibari win, or would the founder of CEDEF win? Hibari had the power. But Alaude had the experience, the patience, the intelligence. Hibari had none. Well, not none, but only a little bit of the things that Alaude had. Would Hibari, with brute power and strength, win over any person in general with the three qualities Alaude exhibited?

"Oya." Mukuro chuckled, putting a hand to his mouth, still smirking. "Someone is being impatient today."

Hibari didn't feel like it was the time to listen to the illusionist's antics. He pressed on. "Hibird could have been an illusion."

"Oh, really?"

Hibari offered another reason of why Mukuro could have been the one to murder all those innocents. "Spade betrayed the family."

"He was a lying, manipulating, melon-headed oaf. I would never follow that man's footsteps." Mukuro sniffed disapprovingly.

"Now you know how we feel like around you."

Mukuro couldn't help but feel owned. A vein popped in his temples, but he didn't want to be the one to show it.

Hibari glared dangerously up at the taller youth.

Suddenly, an ominous tension built up in the air around them.

And it certainly didn't come from Mukuro.

It was much more powerful.

Hibari grunted and swung into his defense stance. Mukuro did the same, smirk vanishing. He gripped his trident tightly. Both stood back-to-back; Mukuro facing the side in which he came from; Hibari facing the opposite.

All sounds halted. No wind. No buzzing. No creaking. Nothing, but the heavy rasping of the two strongest Vongola Guardians.

The tension was growing to be almost asphyxiating. Mukuro pursed his lips and drew his trident back so the razor edge pointed outward. Hibari's sweat glistened and dropped more. He shook his head so the beads of perspiration flung away from his eyes. Both Guardians glanced around cautiously, hearts beating rapidly, waiting for something to happen.

"Wah… Hibari-kun? You came?" came an unfamiliar, smooth-toned voice from Hibari's right side.

Hibari gasped, Mukuro made this growling sound that came from his throat. Both instantly turned to face the source of the noise.

From out of the shadows, a smiling, blonde-haired youth emerged and leaned against a tree beside him that didn't have any slimy gunk coating its' bark.

He had blonde hair cut into a bowler-style. His eyes were a reptilian gold; his pupils were black, vertical slits. His skin was pale; he wore a long-sleeved, black tee-shirt and blue jeans. He was about the same height or, actually, taller than Mukuro. His hands were shoved into his jeans pockets and he didn't look at all afraid.

Mukuro snarled. The sound of the youth's voice reminded him of Byakuran, the god-forsaken-person-who-nearly-destroyed-the-world-and-the-TriNiSette-and-claimed-to-like-the-phrase-'World-Peace'-but-actually-meant-'World-Domination'- a.k.a. the Millefiore Boss.

Five minutes of silence followed, as the Guardians studied the stranger, until Hibari broke the pressure-filled atmosphere with three words. "Who are you?"

The stranger grinned. One canine tooth was larger than the rest, making him look like he had a fang. "You forgot me so quickly, ne, Hibari-kun?"

"I don't even know you," Hibari growled. His patience level was nearly at zero, and his theories about what had happened, and what was going on with Hibird were now multiplying by the minute. Meanwhile, Mukuro tried to think things through calmly, sorting his own theories out piece-by-piece. Out of all them, the one theory that seemed most general but still applied to the situation was- _Hibird wasn't a bird_. _It was a _person.

"Really, Hibari-kun?" the youth raised a hand to his Adam's apple, and pinched the soft skin right above it. Then he pushed his fingers in a little bit, and what came out of his grinning mouth made Hibari drop one of his tonfas. "Hibari!" he squeaked, just like Hibird. "Hibari! Hibari!"

Open-mouthed and wide-eyed, Hibari stared in utter confusion- and for those extremely rare moments, showed some fear. He was astounded. His bird- Hibird- that he took care of for nearly a year, and taught so many words, and stayed by him all the time through all his troubles, worries, problems- was this despicable youth?

How could he betray him like this?

Utterly overcome with emotion, Hibari ground his teeth together so hard that you could hear the grinding sound. He snatched up his dropped tonfa, his eyes stinging. _I'm not crying, _he thought. _I DON'T CRY!_

A roar of anguish escaped his throat as he leaped into the air and dashed ruthlessly at the traitor when Mukuro put his trident in the way.

Hibari knew better than to get trapped by it. So he stopped, landed on the ground and stumbled back, suddenly interested in the dead cockroaches lying uselessly in the torn-up clumps of grass.

Mukuro, for once, pitied the Cloud Guardian's predicament. He never admitted this to anyone, nor would he ever- but he never liked it when someone was betrayed, unless it was an enemy. Mukuro had been betrayed countless times before, and he wished that no one would ever be held in the same position again.

Hibari was not really his enemy to him. He just wanted his revenge. Besides, when they did fight together, they were unstoppable. Combined with their Earth Flame counterparts, Julie Katou with the Desert Flame and Adelheid with her Glacier Flame, they were practically invincible.

He decided to take over for Hibari. "Well, what's your name?" he asked. Starting from the beginning seemed like the best choice.

The youth grinned. "I'm from the Corleone Famiglia. My name is Alphonso."

C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:

**That's it for now! **I guess I updated pretty quickly, didn't I? Yay!

**I MUST HAVE MORE REVIEWS!**


	3. Chapter 3: Hibari Kidnapped!

**Summary: **Hibari loves Hibird. He teaches it how to speak, follow orders, and is pretty much the only thing that Hibari doesn't get irritated with. But what if Hibird is actually hiding a sinister secret that may threaten the power of the Vongola, Shimon, and the rest of its' allied Famiglias?

**I'm so sorry about the long wait **for chapter three! I was seriously running out of ideas (already) for this story, I had to get ready for school and recover from jet lag (just came back from India) _and_ my mom is restarting all my extracurricular activities. Yay. Oh, and a big thank you to all those people who I PM'ed for reviewing/favoriting/alerting my story! So, please read!

**Disclaimer: **I do NOT own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Or anything related to it. Though I wish I did. But whatever. Read the story.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

**Previously: **Hibari left the school with Hibird, entrusting it to Adelheid, and went into the deepest part of the forest. Everything was rotten and dead, and suddenly Hibari realized that Hibird was gone. Mukuro appeared along the way, both surprised to see each other in this part of the forest. A youth emerges, showing proof to Hibari that he, in fact, was Hibird by warping his voice. Mukuro begins to interrogate him, in which he finds out that the youth's name was Alphonso and hails from the Corleone Famiglia.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

Hibari finally glanced up and glowered at the tall youth in front of him with pure, fresh hatred flaming in his eyes. He saw that Mukuro, beside him, had his eyes wide open in consternation at the information he had just received. Mukuro, being one of the three escaped fugitives of the impregnable Vendicare prison and a former enemy of the entire mafia, had about as vast of a knowledge of the mafia world as Reborn. And what he knew about the Corleone Famiglia was definitely not good if it surprised the other Guardian that was equal in strength to the Cloud.

However, the disciplinary committee head, and future Foundation head was not one to be surprised for long. After all, he was the Vongola Cloud Guardian. And he found emotion to be a grand show of weakness to the opponent. One single glint of hesitation or skittishness in the rival's eyes will be taken as fear and will surely be taken down in one shot if you are not careful. This was Hibari's way of thinking. _Take the enemy down before they come too close. _

He had completely forgotten this when he took in Hibird as his pet. No, _Alphonso. _He had let an enemy spy break through the boundaries of the most powerful organization in the mafia, other than the Shimon, and let it absorb all the knowledge of the sources of their strength.

In other words, _he had betrayed his comrades. _

Hibari would never forgive himself for this.

His heart pumped wildly in his chest. Hibari could hear the blood pumping , gushing, oozing through the veins and arteries in his body. Nerve cells sizzled up his spine faster than lightning, forming into adrenaline when mixed with the blood. "Skylark," Mukuro murmured. "This is not the time."

Hibari completely ignored the warning, mouthed dangerously by the illusionist. But he was not going to obey anybody at the moment. He would not listen to anyone. Perspiration dripped down his back, coming together in a wet pool at the back of his white shirt. Clammy hands slick with sweat gripped the tonfas with renewed strength and vigor. His shoulder and arm muscles tensed. He silently drifted back into a fighting stance, brewing with power.

"Hibari," Mukuro growled, glaring piercingly down at the boy next to him. "You do not know their power. Stop it, right now!"

Hibari refused to heed the Mist Guardian's advice.

Alphonso watched Hibari, looking slightly amused and cocking his head to the side as a deep, royal shade of violet coated his tonfas. The Cloud Flames licked outward, probing the air around it, as if itching for a fight. The flames lit up their surroundings, giving it an eerie light- making the trees seem alive.

Licking his lips in anticipation, Hibari narrowed his eyes until they almost looked like slits, adrenaline racing though his nerves faster than ever before. He wasn't thinking. Nothing was in his brain except a blooming black rose, growing bigger and deepening into a richer black color as it was fed with the hateful thoughts of the great, gray Cloud. Never before had Hibari felt such a deep anger before. Into the depths of his subconscious mind, the only part that was, at the moment, sane, he was quite bewildered at the repugnance that had now reached its' peak.

But his subconscious mind couldn't do anything as he had now reached his full power.

Hibari leaped into the air, and seemingly vanished for a moment or two, then came lashing down at Alphonso, uttering an ear-piercing roar of rage, now transformed into his Cambio Forma XX Version. The rings of text creating a globe around his body glowed and pulsed with power as he swooped down like a hawk, ready to engulf the blonde-haired herbivore, who watched him from below with a smirk that seemed- triumphant.

But Hibari wasn't going to care about that right now.

Remaining indifferent to Mukuro's vain, insistent protests, he was just a second away from pummeling the youth to a bloody, useless pulp.

Abruptly, all sounds ceased.

Hibari's roar had stopped midway. The clicking and whirring of gears and the soft breeze caused by the swirling rings of text faded away, leaving no sound at all. No wind. No rustling. No crunching. No sign of life yet again, exactly the way it was just when Alphonso appeared.

It remained like this for about five seconds.

Then Hibari's tonfas dropped to the ground, clanking and clattering over the decomposing exoskeleton's of the dead insects, leaves, and coating itself in dirt littered with old cigarettes.

It stopped moving altogether when it bumped into a log and rolled over, lying uselessly in the dirt. It didn't make another sound.

As if it were dying a humiliated death.

Mukuro sighed at the finishing sight in front of him. He had warned the lad to stop. In fact, he had _begged_ him to stop. For goodness' sake, he had diminished his dignity in front of an enemy by pleading to someone. That was just idiocy. No one begs anybody when it comes to fighting. Especially when it was the mafia we were dealing with.

Alphonso was still leaning against the tree, smile plastered on his face, right hand shoved in his jeans' pocket. With his other hand, he grasped Hibari by the throat, holding him out to his left effortlessly in midair. Alphonso snickered as he sought out the pulse, which hammered against his thumb and forefinger, trying to get oxygen to Hibari's brain.

Alphonso pressed it. Hard.

Hibari gasped, and opened his eyes wide, helplessly dropping his other tonfa in sheer pain and suffocation. He couldn't suck in even a little bit of air. Even though the oxygen was tainted with the reeking odors of dead things, at the moment he would do anything for a small gulp. His heart beat faster and faster, thudding against his ribcage, as if trying to barge out so as to gather new oxygen for the dying cells. With the last of his strength, he tried to wrench the wicked person's hand away from his throat. But he soon realized it was no use. The youth's muscles were made of iron and steel. He gave up trying to break himself off.

Alphonso wasn't giving any mercy.

He pressed harder, and began to laugh. A twinkling, sweet laugh, but immersed in evil and darkness. Hibari's vision soon began to go blurry and a trickle of blood mixed with saliva trickled down the corner of his mouth. His sweat became cold and burned against his skin.

He knew there was fear in his eyes. Fear of dying. But he would never, ever let the tears welling up inside to flow out. Not in front of the pineapple-haired jerk. Or the traitor restraining him from living.

The world spun around him, black spots blotching the hazy view. He vaguely heard the sadistic creep guffawing at his predicament.

Hibari stole one last glance at the Vongola Mist Guardian, who silently watched and caught his gaze. Hibari, for the first time in his entire life, changed the expression in his eyes to somewhat of a plea. A call for help. A signal of regret for not heeding Mukuro's incessant warnings.

Mukuro gave a slight smirk. He tilted his head into a quick nod, and put his index finger against his lips. Hibari knew that this meant patience and silence.

Then he heard a voice in his head. Barely. Mukuro's voice. With the last drops of his strength and conscience, he listened in carefully.

Hibari didn't like the idea. But he had to obey. He owed Mukuro one. Even though he was one of those illusionists he despised, this was not the time to think that. It was the only way to get out of this position.

Satisfied and confident, he left his faith and trust in Mukuro, Adelheid, maybe even Julie- and the rest of the Vongola and Shimon Famiglia members before he finally fell unconscious and crumpled to the ground in a ruffled black heap.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

With Hibari eliminated (for now), it was Alphonso's and Mukuro's turn to face-off. Alphonso seemed interested in Mukuro, unlike the look of disgust and indifference to Hibari who had once been his- his owner of sorts.

After about five minutes of spooky silence (that Mukuro didn't give a damn about; he had been through all of Hell's realms anyway), Mukuro broke the silence by cautiously wording his sentence. "That was quite impolite," Mukuro teased. "I did not feel very entertained."

"Ah, yes," Alphonso replied, as if just realizing it. He smiled sweetly at the young man in front of him. "Forgive me for the horrible show. However, I must be leaving now."

"You will be taking him hostage?"

"Why, of course! Why would I have come here, then?" he chuckled and continued. "Besides, just killing is not very fun. Isn't that right?"

Mukuro smiled in response. "That is very true."

Alphonso sighed, looked down at Hibari's broken, battered body, kneeled and slipped his arms underneath. He hefted him up without any problem at all. Hibari's arms dangled uselessly over the side. Alphonso cracked a crooked smile at Mukuro. "I suppose getting him back will be much better entertainment for you. You have five days' time to find him."

And Alphonso turned his back to the illusionist, and with Hibari secure in his arms just in case he woke up or tried to escape, disappeared into the darkness.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

**The Next Day, 5 PM, Kokuyo Land**

"So that's what happened!" Tsuna exclaimed, who was sitting cross-legged on the musty, dust-layered floor. Mukuro was seated on the torn-up sofa in front of him, who nodded at Tsuna. "That's why Hibari-san didn't come to school today!"

"Uh-huh," Enma agreed timidly. "M- my h- hyper intuition f- figured that- that s- something was wrong." Enma was stuttering extra hard. That meant he was very worried.

"That fucking Corleone bastard," Gokudera growled in between Tsuna and Enma. "Even though it's that goddamned Hibari, he's still one of the Guardians."

"I _told _that idiot to be careful. Of _course _he doesn't listen," Adelheid complained.

"Oh. Well, he should come back easily. Right?" Yamamoto doubted aloud.

"No wonder the albino midget calls you _yakyu-baka _all the time!" Julie Katou realized with a perverted smirk on his face. "It's not at all easy to get past Corleone's defenses. Ne, Pinaphile-kun?" Julie asked, turning to Mukuro.

Mukuro's temple bulged. Lately, Julie had been coming up with ways to combine 'pineapple' and 'pedophile' together. This was one of them.

"Who the damn fuck are you calling a fucking albino, you mentally retarded freak?" Gokudera growled, clenching his hand into a fist and waving it into Julie's face, Yamamoto laughing all the while.

"So?" Tsuna asked, trying to get the group back on topic. "What's the plan, Mukuro?"

"A- and w- will Hibari-k-kun be a- all right?" Enma added gingerly.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

**Okay, I know the ending **was kind of abrupt and the chapter was pretty darn long, but if I divided this into two chapters it would seem really choppy. So… **please review! **I'll try to update as quick as possible!


	4. Plans Revealed

**Summary: **Hibari loves Hibird. He teaches it how to speak, follow orders, and is pretty much the only thing that Hibari doesn't get irritated with. But what if Hibird is actually hiding a sinister secret that may threaten the power of the Vongola, Shimon, and the rest of its' allied Famiglias?

**Yay, finally I've published chapter 4! **I hope this chapter satisfies you guys. I did my best on it! I mean, as usual, but whatever. Many, many thanks again to these users: **SpringRiverImagination**, **Tsuna 4 Cn4s**, **SwanFrost15**, **TheSatanicNightmare**, **Lunakatsuma**, and last but not least, **OneWhoWasForgotten**. Many more thanks to those I may have forgotten to mention here, don't worry… I'm not forgetting about any of you guys. ;)

**Disclaimer: **I do NOT own Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Or anything related to it.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

**Previously: **Hibari had gotten fed up of waiting, so he lashed out at Alphonso, despite Mukuro's warnings against Alphonso's strength. However, Alphonso easily grabbed Hibari by the throat, rendering his attack useless. As Hibari fell unconscious, Mukuro used telepathy to tell Hibari his plan of retrieving him; the plan's contents were not mentioned. Alphonso warned Mukuro that he had five days to find Hibari and leaves with Hibari. The previous chapter ended with Mukuro just beginning to tell the rest of the Vongola and Shimon Famiglias of his plan.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

Hibari awakened groggily, his eyelids heavier than normal, against his eyes. His senses were blurred and blunted, and he couldn't properly feel what was going on around him. When he finally managed to open his eyes, albeit a crack, the rest of his senses followed suit. Rays of light filtering through what seemed like a small window to the left of him streamed into his range of vision; for some reason, it seemed as if there was a net over his eyes. Through his sense of touch, he felt his head lolling against a cushion, his hands stuck against armrests by cold strips of metal, and the same to his legs, and they felt like molten lead. Through his hearing, he heard the rusty squealing of a door against uncleaned hinges and a pair of steps strolling inside. He caught the scent of a slight chemical order, but other than that, nothing seemed quite wrong to him.

However, his body was aching all over. His waist and back ached from leaning against this hard, musty chair with only a small cushion supporting the back of his head. His chest ached; his throat felt scalded and whenever he took in a breath, it hitched because a sharp, searing pain would reverberate through his entire body, making him shudder. Just like the adrenaline that had coursed through his veins before he attempted his attack against-

_Hibird, _Hibari thought, sparks of memory zipping through his mind. _Mukuro. The plan…_

Hibari's memory swam. He couldn't remember the name of the youth who betrayed him in some way.

_What was it? It started with- _Hibari's mind burst. _ALPHONSO!_

Uttering a blood-curdling shriek, he threw himself against the chain bondage that wrapped his waist and chest tightly against the godforsaken chair, preventing him from escape. His mind abruptly flooded with memories of that horrible day, ramming against his skull. His gray eyes flung open; sweat dripped down his soiled, bloody Namimori Middle School's uniform, only to immediately close his eyes and scream again- the net-like sheet over his eyes, hazing his vision was a thick, black blindfold that had slammed against his eyes.

Hibari couldn't hold it in anymore. His emotions, raging like fire. His pain, both mental and physical, crumbling within him like landfalls and those occasional blasts of earthquakes that rattled Japan's islands about two or three times every year. His loathing, his hatred, against the youth who had once been the bird he had loved and cared for with all his heart.

He let it all out in one lengthy screech that would have shattered the steel chains which bound him to the restraining chair.

When he was finally done, his head hung downward, panting , saliva dripping from his mouth and onto the cold, hard floor like water leaking from a broken faucet. His remaining emotions, fear, anxiety, skittishness- all of them clumped together to form a feeling of helplessness. He couldn't hear his scream of sorrow echoing loudly, bouncing off against the walls of the small room; all he could hear was his heavy, raspy breathing.

He knew, for the first time ever, he was helpless. He was useless. His uniform was drenched, soiled in sweat, blood, and dirt. His trusty weapons, the only things he could possibly rely on in this situation were gone. Probably lying broken and musty somewhere in the depths of Namimori Forest. How could he bare the humiliation of being defeated once more without yet having accomplished his revenge on the illusionist?

_The plan, _he thought, barely able to listen to himself think. _He will get me out of here. Then I may focus on getting revenge. _

It was there that he finished his thought when a horribly familiar voice disrupted the sorrowful silence.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

**First Day, 9 AM, Saturday, Kokuyo Land**

**Four Days Left.**

Mukuro, just like the day before, sat comfortably on the raggedy sofa- not for his own comfort, but for his not-so-loud voice to be heard over the teenagers (discounting Lambo who was making a racquet outside playing with I-Pin) sitting below him on the gritty, cheaply tiled floor. The Shimon Famiglia sat to his left; the Vongola to his right. Reborn sat quietly on Mukuro's left shoulder, his fedora shadowing the upper half of his face. He was not sporting his usual quirky smile. This expression, Tsuna knew, meant that what was happening wasn't good.

The day before, the meeting had ended without Mukuro being able to tell the rest of the plan that he had telepathically voiced to Hibari before he was kidnapped by Alphonso. This was because everyone was quite tired and hungry anyway, and they didn't properly focus on anything Mukuro was saying. Tsuna and Enma had protested- they tried their best to ignore their hunger, but Mukuro excused all of them anyway, saying that it wouldn't even matter because the rest weren't listening. They had reluctantly left, but arrived refreshed and clean to Kokuyo Land at around 8:50 AM. The last ten minutes were used to distract Lambo from flinging one of his hand grenades at the building itself. Apparently he was annoyed with Ken who had insulted him by calling him an afro-headed garbage can.

"So… what is the plan?" the mammoth-sized Kaoru Mizuno of the Shimon Famiglia asked surprisingly timidly. **[Kaoru's flame wasn't introduced in the manga yet; I'll make up a possible flame for him later on in the story.] **

"Yes, I will explain the plan soon," Mukuro responded. "However, none of you must interrupt." The smile that formed while saying this was directed at Gokudera.

Gokudera looked away and scoffed, clicking his teeth as usual.

"Before I begin explaining the plan's details, I must show you the extent of the Corleone Famiglia's power. As I told you before, Alphonso of that family was easily able to capture and incapacitate Hibari-kun even when he was in Cambio Forma XX Version."

Though the audience knew this fact from the day before, they were still uneasy when they heard it again. Hibari was incredibly strong, Tsuna knew. He could understand if there were many people. But just one person defeating the mighty Cloud Guardian was practically impossible!

"Explain it to the extreme," Ryohei agreed, nodding seriously. For once, he wasn't loud and spoke in a normal tone of voice, much to the relief of the rest of the people gathered.

"All right." Mukuro cleared his throat and began his explanation. "The Corleone Famiglia is fairly new, formed about five decades ago in the mid 1950's to 1970's in Turin, Italy. The family was small and average; their bosses were satisfied with the status they retained."

"Wait," Gokudera interrupted. "Boss_es_? There's only about a forty to sixty-year difference between those dates and the year 2012!"

Mukuro sighed, exasperated. He hated interruptions when something was flowing nice and smoothly. "I am getting there, smart boy.

"Like Gokudera here mentioned, yes, there is only an average of sixty years between those dates mentioned and the current year. And there were boss_es_. A normal person would live up to seventy years, right? However, these bosses, for some reason, only lived to twenty years maximum, along with their Guardians. They didn't survive longer than that range."

Koya Aoba, Forest Guardian of the Shimon Famiglia and Ryohei's Sun Flame counterpart, frowned. "Only twenty years? That's pretty dang short! You sure you didn't get your facts wrong or something?"

Reborn looked up at this. "He is right," he said in dangerous monotone. "Don't interrupt anymore or you will be punished like Dame-Tsuna."

Nobody laughed or commented at this. The matter at hand was serious.

Mukuro continued. "Finally, the third boss arrived to take the seat at around 1990. His name was Angelo Mezzardi. And he is still living. He is twenty-two years old."

Gasps of shock and frowns were seen and heard across the room.

"How did that happen?" Mukuro asked next. He was about to continue when Yamamoto interrupted cluelessly.

"I don't know," he answered innocently.

"You retard, that was a rhetorical question," Koya growled.

"Yeah," Gokudera agreed.

"_Urusay_," Reborn declared. "Continue, Mukuro."

"Around the 1990's was when the study of genetics began to get popular among the mafia." Mukuro sniffed distastefully as he said this. The Vongola and Shimon knew why; Mukuro had been experimented on with his genes by the Estraneo Famiglia when he was very young, which had given him the grudge against mafia.

"Therefore, Angelo decided that he would conduct an experiment to extend the lives of his generation, and that he would do anything to do so. For his first experiment, he used his own right-hand man, Ettore Ferigno. Ettore had to accept, because of course, as a right-hand man, he was obliged to do what his boss told him to do, even though he didn't like his boss at all. He had to leave his pregnant wife for the experiment, and in the end of the experiment, Ettore ended up dead."

Gokudera looked shocked at this. He stared at Mukuro, as if not believing a boss would conduct an experiment on his own right-hand man- an experiment he didn't know would produce the desired results. No, he didn't want to believe it.

That was when Tsuna put a hand on his arm, squeezed it, and smiled at him reassuringly, silently showing him that he would never, ever do such a thing in their lives. Gokudera still looked shaken, but he appreciated his boss's and best friend's help, smiling back and not taking Tsuna's hand off his arm.

"However, Angelo didn't care. He was intent on increasing his Guardians' life spans, but instead of using the rest of his Guardians, he used his maids and servants. When none of that worked either, he set about kidnapping people of all ages from the streets until finally, one woman proved the desired result. Satisfied, Angelo killed off the woman as he didn't want any of his experiments revealed to the public, and went through the operation himself, forcing the rest of his Guardians to do the same. Angelo and his Guardians were only around eighteen at the time.

"But then, Angelo began to get greedy again. He believed that since now they had extended life spans, he wanted to use those same genetic experiments to make his Famiglia stronger than any other. For this, he mainly used other children our age because we learn very quickly and easily, and we are flexible to different environments. He chose children who had been traumatized in certain ways, granting them power and money if they allowed themselves to be experimented on. They were lured in, and soon enough, their minds and bodies were transformed into killing machines that only took the orders of their boss. Angelo, incredibly happy with what happened, executed all his original Guardians and replaced them with the children. Now, the children are carrying out the orders of their boss to bring the Corleone Famiglia to the top, and Alphonso had carried this out for nearly a year by taking the form of Hibird and spying on the sources of the most powerful Famiglias currently- the Vongola, along with the Varia, the Shimon, the Chiavarone, and the Millefiore." Mukuro stopped speaking after that, letting the danger of the situation sink into everyone's minds.

After five minutes, Adelheid was the first to speak up. "Then what's so special about those guys?" she asked. "They're pretty much slave robots, cool. We can just dismantle them somehow, right? Isn't it simple?"

Reborn spoke for Mukuro. "No," he answered bluntly. "These kids are only 22% human. The other 78% of their bodies and minds are specially designed to kill. And they are automatically trained for it. They're not like other humans either- they have no need for sleeping, or eating. When they are wounded, they heal automatically. And if their blood- one of the only things that is human- ever does fall to the ground, clones of the host will form out of the blood. Their only known weakness is their nose, mouth, or throat. If you somehow strangle them, you will be able to kill them; like us, they still need to breath to survive."

Adelheid nodded and looked away, sweat dripping down the side of her face.

"What's in it for Hibari then?" Shitt P., Shimon Swamp Guardian and Gokudera's Storm Flame counterpart asked, even though she wasn't referred to as 'Shittopi-chan'. "What'll happen to him?"

"As far as I know, the Corleone have already gathered the most important information from us," Mukuro informed. "The recent murders caused by Alphonso signified that; this was also to attract Hibari-kun's attention, and to show-off their power. Angelo probably had Alphonso kidnap Hibari-kun once he was incapacitated to lure us over there, knowing that we would come rescue a fallen comrade. Once we come, it's guaranteed they'd easily defeat us, because they already showed their might by defeating Hibari-kun. As you can see, all the actions that they had done connect in some way or the other to reach their final goal- gaining the status of the strongest mafia Famiglia in the world. And the only way to prevent this from happening is to take back Hibari-kun within four days, which will be an impossibly difficult task."

The silence that followed was deafening. Nobody wanted to speak.

"But how the hell are we gonna find him?" Gokudera shouted, startling everyone as he slammed a fist into the dusty floor, nearly cracking the wood paneling underneath. "They can be anywhere in the world!"

Just as everybody was about to settle down, they became surprised again as Mukuro smiled. "Exactly."

"What do you extremely mean by _exactly_?" Ryohei asked doubtfully.

"By 'exactly', he means he's a Pedopple," Julie answered 'helpfully', still continuing his stupid game of combining the words 'pedophile' and 'pineapple'.

Mukuro growled as some people snickered. "By 'exactly', I mean exactly what I say," he corrected, and people turned their attention back on him. "When Alphonso appeared, he communicated some instructions to me telepathically, which was quite surprising because-"

"-he didn't look like a fruit?" someone interrupted.

Mukuro's patience was beginning to snap. "-because he didn't seem at all like an illusionist," he completed.

"Exactly," Koya said, the culprit of the insult.

Rauji Ooyama, Shimon Mountain Guardian and Lambo's Lightning Flame counterpart heaved a big sigh and mumbled, "Stop it, will you?"

"Thank you, Ooyama," Mukuro muttered. "As I was saying, he did communicate some instructions. We will be going around the world, and finding different powerful artifacts that will add to their strength. As we find each artifact, we will get another clue as to where they have taken Hibari-kun."

"But- but those objects add to their strength!" Tsuna exclaimed, speaking up for the first time that day.

Mukuro sighed. "Do you think I can do anything about it? Anyway, to complete this mission, we will have to divide into two teams, chosen by Alphonso himself. Once you all go home, somewhere in your bedrooms you will find either a bag of European Euros or a case of American dollar bills, and beside those you will find a folded paper that says where you will be going. Along with those materials, you will find some kind of electronic equipment. This will be used to communicate with the people in the other group halfway around the world. People with Euros will meet in Namimori Park, while those with dollar bills will meet here in Kokuyo Land."

Everyone nodded, memorizing the instructions.

"All right," Mukuro sighed again, with a satisfied smile. He leaned back against the sofa. "Have a good time."

Everyone grumbled their good-byes and left the building, except Tsuna, Enma, and Gokudera.

"Oya?" Mukuro scoffed, his smirk still there. "Would you all like to sleep with me tonight? I wouldn't mind it at all."

Gokudera pulled out five dynamite sticks from beneath his denim vest. "Hell no, fucking bastard. I'm accompanying Jyuudaime."

"And I'm here for the same reason Tsuna-kun's here."

That made Tsuna look strangely at Enma, who smiled back. Again, the peculiar way Enma and Tsuna were able to sense what was on each other's mind surprised them.

"Ah, well," Tsuna began awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

"We just want to say thank you," Enma said with a grin, bowing elegantly.

Tsuna looked on warily at Enma, but then repeated the action, but in a more Japanese style- quick and polite. "Thank you for spending your time with us!"

Mukuro nodded. "It's no problem," he said.

Tsuna and Enma walked away, chattering quietly to themselves, but Gokudera hung back a little, just enough to mumble a hasty 'good luck' to Mukuro before rushing away.

As he did, he was sure he heard Mukuro's perverted little chuckle reverberating through the room.

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

**Groups**

**Tsuna, Shitt P., Lambo, Koya, Mukuro + Chrome, Kaoru **= **Page, Arizona**

**Enma, Gokudera, Rauji, Ryohei, Julie, Yamamoto, Adelheid **= **Athens, Greece**

**C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:/C:**

**I hope this chapter wasn't too long **and complicated! I always plan as I write, so… this is what came out! Please review more, guys. I can't be satisfied by just favorites and alerts! Oh, and when I write about Greece, please don't get mad at me if the place is different than how I describe it, I've never been there before (rest assured, I've been to Arizona before so don't worry.)! And don't worry, I'll somehow incorporate the Varia, Chiavarone and Millefiore Famiglias somehow into this.


End file.
